In 2016, I went out to the freshman football game between Mater Dei and St. John Bosco, because both teams were unbeaten and everyone was saying how much talent was on the field.

It’s 2018. The players are now juniors and the schools are meeting for the Southern Section Division 1 championship. Some of the players who participated in the game have moved on to other schools, but many of the stars from that year have blossomed into varsity standouts.

Mater Dei won the game 28-21, and an assistant coach quipped, “We’re national champs.”

Nov. 19, 2018, 6:22 a.m.

Saturday’s City Section Division I championship football game at El Camino College features two schools with a long tradition of excellence: San Pedro vs. Dorsey at 7 p.m.

Both schools have won five City Section championships. Dorsey, under former coach Paul Knox, was known for producing lots of college and NFL players. San Pedro, under former coach Mike Walsh, was a perennial title contender.

This season, both teams have been surging at the end of the season. San Pedro is 7-6. Running back Josh Ward has rushed for more than 1,000 yards. Junior linebacker Miguel Lopez has more than 100 tackles.

Nov. 18, 2018, 1:17 p.m.

Quarterback Blake Archuleta of Bishop Amat has been selected the MVP of the Mission League by the coaches.

The MVP offensive player was running back Christian Grubb of Sherman Oaks Notre Dame. The co-MVP defensive players were safety Deven Jarvis of Bishop Amat and linebacker Blake Antzoulatos of Chaminade.

The co-MVP linemen were Andrew Rowe of Bishop Amat and Dohnovan West of Alemany.

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Nov. 18, 2018, 12:53 p.m.

Richard Lear is in his first season as football coach at Palmdale Highland. He also coached at Lancaster Eastside, where UCLA running back Joshua Kelley was the star. Considering Kelley ran for 289 yards at the Rose Bowl on Saturday against USC as a former walk-on, you can believe college coaches are now returning Lear’s phone calls.

“We worked hard,” Lear remembered of the 2014 season when Kelley rushed for 1,469 yards but had an offer only from UC Davis. “We tried. A lot of colleges were looking at him but nobody wanted to pull the trigger.”

Lear inherited a strong senior class at Highland, which plays 13-0 Eisenhower on Saturday at Eisenhower for the Southern Section Division 10 championship. Highland has never won a football title.

And Washington Prep, another City Section team, took third place in the tournament with a 66-56 win over Sherman Oaks Notre Dame. Hansen Clarke scored 19 points. Ziaire Williams had 26 points for Notre Dame.

Nov. 17, 2018, 7:59 p.m.

Camarillo players celebrate after their overtime win in the championship game of the Alemany tournament. (Eric Sondheimer / Los Angeles Times)

When people learn that Jaime Jaquez has scored 36, 36 and 40 points in his first three games this season for Camarillo, they might conclude he’s putting up shots in great numbers. And that would be wrong.

The magic of this season’s Camarillo team is how perfectly Jaquez fits in with his teammates.

“He’s doing it unselfishly, which is amazing to do that in the team structure,” coach Michaeltore Smith said. “He’s finding ways to get his teammates easy shots.”